Project Tarab

Tarab – (tar-AHB)

The intense connection between audience and performer in an ideal musical performance.
To play with ‘tarab’ is to play with soul.

Project Tarab: Old and New Music for Oud, Lyra, Laouto and Violin

This project will feature new work by Kaila Flexer and Gari Hegedus (both members of the duo Teslim) as well as traditional Greek and Turkish repertoire and will be performed by Flexer (violin), Hegedus (laouto, oud), international recording artists Ross Daly (lyra, oud) and Kelly Thoma (lyra) who reside on Crete. For this project, these four musicians will work collaboratively to create a body of music that honors the fertile traditions of Greek folk and Turkish classical music while framing them in a new context—that of a sort of ‘folk string quartet’. The aim of this project is to continue the vital evolution of music—by creating new music for ancient folk instruments and to honor the deep traditions of these styles. This project has already received partial funding from the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, American Composer’s Forum and Meet the Composer, Global Connections. Project Tarab will culminate in October of 2009 with concerts, workshops and lecture demonstrations in California and elsewhere.